41-3923. COVERAGE OF ADOPTED NEWBORN CHILDREN — COVERAGE OF MATERNITY AND COMPLICATIONS OF PREGNANCY. (1) Any contract delivered or issued for delivery in this state by an organization offering a managed care plan for which a certificate of authority is required, which provides coverage for injury or sickness for newborn dependent children of the members of the covered group, shall provide such coverage for such newborn children and infants, including adopted newborn children that are placed with the adoptive member of the covered group within sixty (60) days of the adopted child’s date of birth, from and after the moment of birth. Coverage under the contract for an adopted newborn child placed with the adoptive member of the covered group more than sixty (60) days after the birth of the adopted child shall be from and after the date the child is so placed. Coverage provided in accord with this section shall include, but not be limited to, coverage for congenital anomalies. For the purposes of this section, "child" means an individual who has not reached eighteen (18) years as of the date of the adoption or placement for adoption. For the purposes of this section, "placed" shall mean physical placement in the care of the adoptive member of the covered group, or in those circumstances in which such physical placement is prevented due to the medical needs of the child requiring placement in a medical facility, it shall mean when the adoptive member of the covered group signs an agreement for adoption of such child and signs an agreement assuming financial responsibility for such child. Prior to legal finalization of adoption, the coverage required under the provisions of this subsection (1) as to a child placed for adoption with a member of the covered group continues in the same manner as it would with respect to a naturally born child of the member of the covered group until the first to occur of the following events:

(a) Date the child is removed permanently from that placement and the legal obligation terminates; or

(b) The date the member of the covered group rescinds, in writing, the agreement of adoption or agreement assuming financial responsibility.

(2) The managed care organization shall not restrict coverage under a health care contract of any dependent child adopted by a member, or placed with a member for adoption, solely on the basis of a preexisting condition of the child at the time the child would otherwise become eligible for coverage under the plan, if the adoption or placement for adoption occurs while the member is eligible for coverage under the plan.

(3) Any new or renewing group disability insurance contract or blanket disability insurance contract delivered or issued for delivery in this state shall provide that an unmarried child under the age of twenty-five (25) years and who receives more than one-half (1/2) of his financial support from the parent shall be permitted to remain on the parent’s or parents’ contract. Further, any unmarried child of any age who is medically certified as disabled and financially dependent upon the parent is permitted to remain on the parent’s or parents’ contract.

(4) No health care contract which provides maternity benefits for a person covered continuously from conception shall be issued, amended, delivered, or renewed in this state if it contains any exclusion, reduction, or other limitations as to coverage, deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance provisions as to involuntary complications of pregnancy, unless such provisions apply generally to all benefits paid under the plan. If a fixed amount is specified in such plan for surgery, the fixed amounts for surgical procedures involving involuntary complications of pregnancy shall be commensurate with other fixed amounts payable for procedures of comparable difficulty and severity. In a case where a fixed amount is payable for maternity benefits, involuntary complications of pregnancy shall be deemed an illness and entitled to benefits otherwise provided by the plan. Where the plan contains a maternity deductible, the maternity deductible shall apply only to expenses resulting from normal delivery and cesarean section delivery; however, expenses for cesarean section delivery in excess of the deductible shall be treated as expenses for any other illness under the plan.

Where a plan which provides or arranges direct health care services for its members contains a maternity deductible, the maternity deductible shall apply only to expenses resulting from prenatal care and delivery. However, expenses resulting from any delivery in excess of the deductible amount shall be treated as expenses for any other illness under the plan. If the pregnancy is interrupted, the maternity deductible charged for prenatal care and delivery shall be based on the value of the medical services received, providing that it is never more than two-thirds (2/3) of the plan’s maternity deductible.

This section shall apply to all health care contracts except any group health care contracts made subject to an applicable collective-bargaining agreement in effect before January 1, 1977.

For purposes of this section, involuntary complications of pregnancy shall include, but not be limited to, puerperal infection, eclampsia, cesarean section delivery, ectopic pregnancy, and toxemia.

All health care contracts subject to this section and issued, amended, delivered, or renewed in this state on or after January 1, 1977, shall be construed to be in compliance with this section, and any provision in any such plan which is in conflict with this section shall be of no force or effect.

(5) From and after January 1, 1998, no policy of disability insurance which provides medical expense maternity benefits shall restrict benefits for any hospital length of stay in connection with childbirth for the mother or newborn child in a manner that would be in conflict with the newborns’ and mothers’ health protection act of 1996.

History:

[(41-3923) added 1976, ch. 113, sec. 4, p. 446; am. 1993, ch. 305, sec. 4, p. 1132; am. 1994, ch. 365, sec. 8, p. 1160; am. and redesig. 1997, ch. 204, sec. 26, p. 597; am. 1997, ch. 321, sec. 5, p. 955; am. 2009, ch. 125, sec. 5, p. 395.]